THAT RECIPE WITHOUT A DEHYDRATOR????

Have you ever noticed that many dehydrator recipes, particularly for “mock meats” can be done without the dehydrator as “pates”? I mean, think about it… the ingredients will be the same, but it will usually just be more sticky or gooier… but the taste will not ordinarily be that different.

Since I used to use a dehydrator, but now do not, I have been thinking about this often enough. What used to be a “burger” could now be a “burger pate”, if you can’t figure out a better name. These recipes could be forkable, good for leafy wraps (romaine, collard, or whatever), or thrown atop salad ingredients.

Why should those of us who do not use dehydrators dismiss the dehydrator- oriented recipes out of hand. Yes, of course, the cracker recipes might not be your main attack point, but all of those interesting burger/faux meat recipes could work perfectly well on your plate as “pates”, or atop your salad as protein as well as flavor additives, or even spread across a pepper slice as a snack or ‘hors d’ouerves’, used to top a mushroom, or plopped on the side of whatever else you are eating as another ingredient in the meal.

So, when you look at a new recipe book, which dismayingly seems loaded with “entree-like” recipes which call for a dehydrator, don’t just pass that section by… think what it would be like if you just made a pate instead. My experience with my old dehydrator recipes has been very enlightening.

Just saying….

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OH! LENTIL SPROUTS!

Although I have loved lentil sprouts since forever, I hadn’t grown any lentil sprouts in a while.  Then, with all this scary stuff going on, and long lines just to get *into* the supermarket, only to find nothing fresh and yummy looking there, I raided my favorite organic market and got 2 lbs of …… lentils!  Then I had to figure out where to get those sprouting lids for mason jars (no idea where my nice plastic one went off to), and it took a week to get some stainless ones from Amazon Prime!  Finally they came, and the project came together.  I’d forgotten how fast lentils sprout and grow!

I put them to soak on Monday night, and, in the morning, they already had little bitty tails!  Rinse, drain, and set the jar in a bowl, so, if they wanted to drain some more, they could. On Wednesday morning, they had grown quite a bit, but I rinsed and drained again. On Thursday, oh wow!  The sprouts were almost an inch long!

Wraps!  I cut the “bone” out of romaine lettuce leaf and spread a little sundried tomato hummus on the two pieces. I  finely chopped some red bell pepper and onion, and sliced 1/4 of an avocado. Then I piled the lentil sprouts on the leaf slices, sprinkled the bell pepper and onion on top, laid out the pieces of avocado, then folded up the leaf and chowed down!  MM! MM! Good!!!!  I’m going to do a repeat performance tonight!

 

 

 

GRAND OPENING: Cultured Butternut Squash

POST #858
Back to the fermented butternut squash I told you about several days ago.

This was “opening night”!  WOO-HOO!
I want you to know that I have squirmed every day and night since I put that stuff up.  Because of the smell the fermenting gave off, I was afraid I had put in too much garlic, and then I worried I had put in too much jalapeno.  I had already started planning what I could do with it if I couldn’t eat it straight out of the jar.  (I’ve never gone through so much agony over a ferment before)

Well, tonight was the night I decided to open it up.  Tentatively, I took a heaping forkful out and put it in a bowl. Even more tentatively, I took a small forkful in my mouth!

Oh my!  Heavens!  Goodness! Woo-hoo! Oh boy! Wow!  This stuff beats tomato salsa in sweet flavor.  The squash is soft (the way I had hoped it would be — easy chewing), and the flavor is …. pickled!  Amazing!  I did not put any vinegar in the mix, but you’d think I had, from the bright, sweet flavor.  The garlic is not overwhelming, and the jalapeno just gives a mild zing.  I love that vinegary taste, for sure.

I combined it half and half with a “TuNo” mix, and ate a big bowl of it.

I can see grinding this up fine and making a spread to put on other food, or sandwiches, or use as a dip.  I could use it as a soup base.  I could use it as a salad base and add some sprouts (that reminds me, I need to make some new lentil sprouts).

Suffice it to say – this stuff is yummy!

This is stuff I could get hungry for all over the place  (and I don’t get hungry for much).

I will have to start a couple of new jars at least by tomorrow, because I want to show off this stuff and give it to my next-door-neighbors, people who have helped me or given me stuff, and some people I really don’t like (must do something to resolve the karma).  They will get the next jars!  This stuff is all for me!

Meanwhile, except that I am full, I would go right back to the kitchen and eat some more of this stuff. It is really good.

WHAT WE GOT & WHAT I AM DOING WITH IT

Here’s the breakdown from Thursday’s share

Kohlrabi – 1 pc    actually we got several pieces
Fennel – 1 pce       I traded for a big kohlrabi
Carrots – 1 bun     the carrots were kind of small. I put them through the juicer
Cilantro – 1 bun    a big bunch
Escarole – 1 hd      this was a large head
Scallions – 1 bun    traded for more cilantro
Arugula – 1 bag       we got choggia beets
Green Romaine Lettuce – 1 hd    traded for more beets
Green Boston Lettuce – 1 hd

I put the carrots through the juicer and got a small juice glass of carrot juice. I froze the pulp for use in something later.

I’ve made a couple of different versions of raw ravioli, using the large kohlrabi.  I cut it in half and sliced it with my thin slicer (looks like a vegetable peeler, but it’s very wide).  I put my cashew-kale pate and cilantro in the raviolis, and I also made the “chicken pate” recipe from Ani Phyo’s first book and put it in the wraps with some cilantro.

I used the escarole in some wraps with the cashew-kale pate, onion, tomato, cilantro, and lentil sprouts.   I also made a soup with lentil sprouts by dehydrating chopped up  escarole leaves to tender, then adding garlic, olive oil, a little sea salt (!) and black pepper, cilantro, and some red pepper flakes, and dehydrating for a few hours until it was warm.

Well, the lettuce has gone into salads, duh. I also threw some of it, along with some escarole, and an apple, into the blender for a smoothie.  Yuck.  I drank it anyway.  It’s good for me, right?

The beets, you ask?  My beet salad (beets into the food processor along with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, onions, and garlic – with some cilantro!).  I also made a “slaw” with some kohlrabi, beets, apple cider vinegar, onions, extra virgin olive oil, garlic,  and – yes! cilantro! — I put the kohlrabi in the food processor first, and ground it to almost apple sauce consistency, removed it, then put the beets and everything else in, then tossed all in a bowl — the idea was to have white color, but the beets in colored the kohlrabi anyway

My room-mate and I are tentatively back on a two-day meal share plan, so I am planning some fancy kohlrabi raviolo (not sure what will go in them yet), with a sauce of some sort – likely sun-dried tomatoes with something;  a lettuce, escarole, seaweed salad with lentil or sunflower sprouts and a vinaigrette of some sort. I might make the escarole soup again, as well – I liked it, and I will have enough time on Wednesday to do all of the dehydrating.

I’m glad to be back to a one day a week meal share because it gives me a chance to use up stuff I won’t eat all of by myself (I mean, I have been eating all of my share because I have no money to buy other food, but it sure would be nice to have a helping hand, and my room-mate loves salads.)

Of course, we do expect the appearance of sauerkraut somewhere in all of this.  I still have 1/2 qt jalapeno sauerkraut.  I’ll be making more sauerkraut by week end.

KALE/CASHEW STUFFED TOMATOES – Dinner Tonight

The centerpiece for dinner tonight is going to be kale/cashew-stuffed tomatoes.  This is a recipe that I have made three times already — it was a hit with my room-mate from Day One!   (I am surprised that I haven’t posted it yet, but… better late than never!)   Here it is:

CASHEW/KALE PATE STUFFED TOMATOES
based on a recipe found at naturallivingcuisine.com

2 lg heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes, washed, tops cut off, and center carved out (save for salad or for topping the tomato extravaganza
1 C cashews, soaked and rinsed
2 C kale, chopped fine
2 – 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 C onion, chopped
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste
1 C fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Sprinkle inside of tomatoes with salt and pepper, and set aside.
Thoroughly combine remaining ingredients in the food processor and process fine.
Stuff tomatoes with cashew-kale blend.
Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired..

NOTE:You can make this up to 24 hrs. in advance – place in a covered container, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Remove from the refrigerator 1 hr. before serving.

The first time I made this, I used one heirloom tomato (they are very large), and I ended up cutting it in half, because we just don’t eat food that heavy in one meal.  The second time, I got an “ugly tomato” — that is what it was called at the market  – it looked pretty much like an heirloom, was cheaper,  and was even larger than an heirloom!  I still cut it in half.  Today,  I just got two beefsteaks, because they were very red.)

When I have made this before,  I have come up with extra kale/cashew pate.  Because I am unreliable when it comes to serving leftovers, I always form patties or balls (depending on what is left-over) and dehydrate them for later. I refrigerate the dehydrated patties or balls for later in the week — this works out well for me, since I work on weekends, and would rather not have to think about what to put in the lunch box.

If you have the choice  between heirlooms and beefsteaks, or other tomatoes,  the heirlooms are actually easier to work with, because their walls tend to be thicker, and the interior is easier to cut out, and less juice tends to pool in the bottom of the hollowed out tomato (in my experience).  If an heirloom is  too large for one serving for you,  you can cut it in half and either share the other half or refrigerate for the next day.

NIBBLES – what I did with the leftovers

Last night, I made spaghetti with zucchini pasta and a tomato/onion/red bell pepper/almond sauce. My sauce came out thick, but I like it that way.

After dinner, I looked at the leftover sauce and just knew I was not oing to eat it this week.  I had a leftover zucchini so I sliced it on the mandonline and then put a spoonful of sauce on each slice and everything in the dehydrator overnight.  This morning, I was amazed at how small the zucchini slices had shrunk, but I was very pleased with the taste of these little bites. My room-mate says they taste like pizza.  Next time, though, I am going to slice the zucchini thicker.

CSA POTLUCK TOMORROW, and I still don’t know what dish I will take

There is a CSA Potluck Dinner tomorrow, coupled with a silent auction. I have donated a malachite and silver necklace and a package of 20 corn crackers with a container of cashew cheez.

Now I need to think about what I will make for my contribution to the potluck. I am really really thinking of bringing a plate worth of the corn crackers and a pot of the cheez, to generate interest in buying the auction item.

Maybe I should make something else as well.

I have several sweet potatoes lying around, and some oranges, some dates, and some raw unsweetened dried coconut. That is the beginning of two possible recipes (I don’t think I want to make my two usual stand-by’s – raw marinated massaged collards, or raw beets/turnips in vinegar– although I do have some beets, some radishes, and some turnips in the refrigerator)

I’m thinking of one of two sweet potato recipes. I like them both because people are surprised when they realize that what they are eating is raw. I don’t know if I would make the whole pie, but I would offer the filling — with all those dates, it is very sweet. I am also thinking about a “stuffing” recipe made with sunflower seeds.

AMAZING SWEET POTATOES
2 – 3 sweet potatoes (or yams)
1 C coconut, dried
2 apples
1/4 C ginger root
4 lemons juiced
2 oranges, juiced
1 C walnuts, chopped fine

• Chop sweet potatoes, apples, and ginger, and run through Champion juicer with ….blank plate. (Alternatively, grate sweet potatoes, apples, and ginger).
• Remove mixtureto a large bowl. Add shredded dried coconut, lemon and orange …juices, and chopped walnuts.
• Mix thoroughly

JUDY’S “JUST LIKE PUMPKIN” PIE
this is most amazing

2 C almonds, soaked
1 C walnuts or pecans, soaked
1 C unsweetened shredded coconut
20 dates, soaked overnight
2 C cashews, soaked overnight, and drained
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced.
3 t pumpkin pie spice
drizzle agave nectar

CRUST
• Combine almonds, walnuts (or pecans, and coconut in food processor or Vitamix, …..and process until ground fine and dough-like
• Pat the dough into two pie plates

FILLING
• Drain dates; reserve soak water.
• In food processor, puree dates, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie spice
• Remove mixture from food processor and set aside in a bowl.
• Set mixture aside in a bowl.
• Process cashews, agave nectar, vanilla, and date soak water as needed, until …..smooth and creamy.
• Combine cashew mixture and sweet potato mix puree
• Spread filling in pie shells
• Dehydrate for 6 hours, then refrigerate.

SUNFLOWER SEED DRESSING
1 C sunflower seeds, soaked and drained
1 T flax seeds
1-1/2 C celery
1-1/2 C onion
1-1/4 C red bell pepper
1 T sage to taste (or use Bell’s Poultry Seasoning)
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic to taste (optional)
1/2 C kalamata olives, chopped fine

• In a food processor, grind soaked sunflower seeds fine.
• Grind flax seeds fine in a coffee grinder.
• Remove ground seeds to a bowl.
• Place all remaining ingredients, save olives, in the food processor, and mince.
• Add olives and combine all ingredients thoroughly.
• Place in a pie tin, or rectangular tin of suitable size and dehydrate for six hours, or until dressing has reached your desired consistency.

No matter what, I need to go to the supermarket.

If I make ‘Amazing Sweet Potatoes” I need lemons.

If I make the sunflower seed dressing, I need the olives.

Oh!! If I make the pie filling, I don’t need anything, and it tastes really good…

What will I choose??? I need to decide in the next half hour. Oops! I’ve just gone for the easy one. Excuse me, I need to go soak the nuts.

CASHEW CHEESE

I made cashew cheese this week, based on a recipe from Charlie Trotter’s Raw

CASHEW CHEESE
3 C cashews, soaked 10 – 12 hrs and drained
1/4 C rejuvelac
½ t sea salt

Process the cashews through the Champion, using the blank plate.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.
Place mixture in a sieve lined with a double thickness of cheesecloth and placed over a bowl. Drape remaining cheesecloth over the mixture.
Place in a warm place to ferment for 12 hours.
Remove cheese from cloth.
Form into a round, and refrigerate for 24 hours in a covered container, until it becomes firmer.
Use immediately, or store in covered container for up to 3 days.

MY NOTES:
This makes a lot of cheese.  With the additions I made, it is very reminiscent of  Boursin or Rondele “pub cheese.”

I decided to divide my cheese into 4 parts.  Then I mixed in different seasonings in each one – in one, I added sun-dried tomatoes, in the next, I added red bell pepper powder (ground dehydrated peppers) and soaked red pepper flakes with a little garlic, in the third, I added garlic powder, onion powder, and herbs d’provence.  I left one plain to see what it would taste like – (I am trying to get close to a tofu sort of thing, but my room-mate says it tastes more like cream cheese)

I have seen other recipes that say that you can keep the cheese anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks.  I am, of necessity, going to have to check that out – there is simply no way that I can down all this cheese in 3 days.

FALSE ALARM!!! you’ve seen it on other raw food news sources!

I held my breath when I heard the story that the FDA was going to force “pasteurization” of organic vegetables. Of course, I was frightened, because of the forced pasteurization of California almonds, which has raised the price of raw almonds through the roof, but I still held off…. I held my breath…. good thing…

Today, I received an email from Dave Klein, the publisher of Living Nutrition Magazine:
“I was wrong about the pasteurization of greens; the FDA
is not, in fact, proposing to pasteurize greens at all! What happened was someone on the rawfoods board posted a thread that read like there was a proposal to pasteurize greens, telling us to protest on the FDA comment line, with a link to the original article. I didn’t read the article.

In fact, the FDA is proposing regulating growers’ practices, which is probably a good thing.

They’re proposing making growers test their produce at certain intervals for contamination. Also they are looking to make certain regulations about soil conditions, which some groups feel will negatively impact organic growers. I would tend to disagree, as I think a lot of ‘organic’ growers today are faking it and need to be regulated. The real organic growers probably have little to hide.”

I have sat out of this scary notification loop because I wanted to see what would really come around. I understand the panic based on California almonds (what were they thinking of… do they really think that pasteurizing almonds will increase almond consumption, as the world continues to go organic and raw????? They just make us go to outside (foreign) sources, which do not have such ignorant laws (unfortunately, almond prices for raw foodists have just gone through the ceiling, as (sensible) foreign sources have realized that they have a limitless market) The main problem for us here (in the US) is that we must trust foreign sources, which are not necessarily under the same regulations as our local regulations.

Perhaps, our “formerly” raw almond growers/producers in California will be able to organize (oh, but it is California!!! they couldn’t organize when the threat was imminent! )

Meanwhile, it looks like we are safe… stay awake… stay aware!!!

DINNER TONIGHT

DINNER TONIGHT

Sorry no specific recipes. I just looked at what I had from the CSA tonight, and what I had left over from last week, with some almonds and dehydrated tomato slices (thanks to the 40 lbs of tomatoes last month!) I had on hand.

I chose:
red kale
several turnip leaves
an onion
a red bell pepper
two Roma tomatoes
1 med. small turnip
1 beet
arugula leaves
1 red lettuce leaf
1/4 clove garlic
@ 1 tomato worth of dried tomato slices, soaked
some almonds
Thai curry paste
sea salt
apple cider vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

I made massaged greens salad with the kale and turnip leaves (see recipe in recipes section), 1/4 onion, all sliced very thin, 1/4 bell pepper minced, a squirt of Thai green curry paste, a sprinkle of sea salt, and a dash of olive oil (extra virgin, of course).

I made a pate with @ 1-1/2 C almonds, 2 Roma tomatoes, the dried tomato slices, 3/4 red bell pepper, 1/2 onion, 1/4 clove garlic, all ground fine in the food processor.

I made a beet/turnip/onion salad with the turnip, the beet, 1/4 onion, and @1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar. I processed everything fine in the food processor, to the consistency of apple sauce.

Because my room-mate is a foodie, and cares about presentation, I placed the greens neatly on the plate, put three arugula leaves on the plate and flattened two balls of the pate on top of them, and then put 1/2 of the red lettuce leaf on the plate and arranged an interesting drizzle of the beet/turnip/onion salad in the shape of the leaf. She ended up wrapping the pate in the arugula leaves, and the beet/turnip/onion salad in the lettuce. (I ended up copying her wraps, and I wrapped the greens with the pate)

You know… I did not stop to think about food combining tonight. I absolutely did not think about 80/10/10 (because I never do). I know I need some fat and protein, so there were the almonds and the oil (I did consciously think about that). This was a totally “intuitive” meal.

I feel okay, and I am really happy that I had a delicious meal. I do not feel any ill effects, and I am going to save the leftovers and eat them tomorrow at work. I really do not even feel that I need to be giving excuses, although I am, simply so you will not go saying “Oh, but you should have….” Let’s put it this way. I ate a good healthy meal. My body is happy, and I am not having any rash break-outs (that is how my body reacts to wrong eating). I am full, and I am looking forward to tomorrow, not to the next thing to eat.